WATCH: Ed Miliband calls on Theresa May to challenge Trump’s climate change denial

Left Foot Forward

'Climate change is not a hoax invented by the Chinese'

 

Ed Miliband has called on Theresa May to raise the issue of climate change with US president Donald Trump when she meets him on Friday.

At PMQs, Miliband warned the prime minister that as the first foreign leader to meet with the president, ‘she carries a huge responsibility, on behalf not just of this country, but the whole international community.’

“Can I ask her to reassure us that she will say to the president that he must abide by and not withdraw from the Paris climate change treaty. And in case it is helpful, can she offer the services of UK scientists to convince the president that climate change is not a hoax invented by the Chinese?”

Watch the full exchange here:

Since stepping down as Labour leader in 2015, Miliband has become one of parliament’s leading voices on climate change, particularly with regard to the Paris Agreement. Trump is a known climate change denier and has threatened US withdrawal from the climate change accord.

Since taking office on Friday he has approved the revival of the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, against the wishes of local communities. His administration has also instructed the Environmental Protection Agency to remove the climate change page from its website, and has restricted communication on climate issues by government agencies.

Responding to Miliband, the prime minister said she ‘would hope that all parties would continue to ensure that that climate change agreement is put into practice’.

Translation: she won’t be raising it on Friday.

See also: Trump declares world war on women’s health with abortion ‘gag rule’

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6 Responses to “WATCH: Ed Miliband calls on Theresa May to challenge Trump’s climate change denial”

  1. Anon

    Could somebody explain to Ed Miliband that the climate has been changing since the Earth was formed through the process of accretion.

    The climate has changed over varying cyclical periods – Yoshimura, Milankovitch etc – and these cycles will continue no matter what irrelevant punitive actions are taken.

    The demonised trace gas, CO2, is recognised by most normal people as being beneficial to the world’s flora and bio-diversity; and the sudden cooling of this planet is really something to be feared.

  2. patrick newman

    No wonder the response is decided to be anon as it is a silly statement in defiance of the vast majority of scientific conclusions by those in the scientific community who specialise in environment related disciplines.
    May did not answer Miliband’s excellent question and indeed she seemed distinctly uncomfortable at the thought of putting such a point to a man with the ego of Jupiter.

  3. Anon

    @patrick newman – Which parts of my “silly statement” do the scientific community disagree with?

  4. Mike Stallard

    Climate Change was never discussed properly so I personally have little or no idea what it is all about.
    What is actually coming through is the fact that there are two sides. The assumption that wind farms, solar panels and tidal flows are necessary to save the planet from Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is now very much yesterday’s issue. I do not think that, as Patrick says above, this is a done deal.

  5. ted francis

    Anon, your thinking is far too narrow. It may be that climate changes are cyclical but that does not mean that man’s actions neither influence nor exacerbate those changes. The development of fossil fuels is certainly not “natural”, neither is the destruction of rain forests on an industrial scale; just two examples. To me the out-of-hand denial of the possibility of human influence on climate smacks of hidden agenda: vide the global fossil fuel lobby efforts both identifiable……and Anonymous?

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